call of the millions 4 spring 2013: mexico supplement

7/29/2019 Call of the Millions 4 Spring 2013: Mexico Supplement

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A round-up of the Mexico Days of Action

This article was compiled and edited by Robin Alexander from material posted on the IndustriALL

and USLEAP web sites, an article by Dean Hubbard, and from various reports and interviews

regarding actions coordinated by the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance (TNSA).

(For more information about particular struggles, check out the backgrounder at

http://www.usleap.org/files/2013%20Feb%20Background%20for%20Days%20of%20Action.doc)

Unions and worker rights supporters took action around the world as part of a week of action

running from February 18 to 24, 2013. The Days of Action in solidarity with the independent trade

unions in Mexico focused on the need to roll back regressive labor law changes that were approved

in the fall of 2012, to support workers at key conflicts, and to end the persecution, arrests and

criminalization of struggles of democratic trade unions and the workers they represent.

Another key demand was that the Mexican government take action in accordance with the

International Labor Organization recommendations to address the pervasive protection contract

system that is used by employers, company-friendly unions, and the government to avoid

representation by democratic unions and to deny workers their basic rights.

In the United States where comprehensive immigration reform is under consideration, unions also

called on the Mexican government to reaffirm its commitment to protect the rights of immigrant

workers in the United States while also ensuring that the rights of all workers are also rigorously

protected and enforced in Mexico.

This effort was coordinated worldwide by the Global Union Federations (GUFS) and in North

America by the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance (TNSA).

GUFS Put Out a Call Worldwide

All the Global Unions and the International Trade Union Confederation supported the 2013 Days of

Action. IndustriALL took a major lead in coordinating actions throughout the world and in

providing posters, a model letter to send to embassies and consulates, and background materials.

They also created a short video featuring Benedicto Martnez (FAT), Napoleon Gmez Urrutia (Los

Mineros) and Martn Esparza (SME), which provided an opportunity to hear directly from Mexican

union leaders.

Following the week of action, IndustriALL posted reports from dozens of countries around theworld. http://www.industriall-union.org/mexico-actions-2013 For example, UNI Global Union

reported that more than 200 people participated in rallies in Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and

members of the ITUC, gathered in Sao Paulo, Brazil for a meeting of the TUCA, demonstrated

together at the Mexican Consulate in So Paulo. The 800,000 member CNM-CUT delivered a letter

to Mexican ambassador Alejandro De la Pea Navarrete and to PKC, in solidarity with the Los

Mineros attempt to organize there.

As described by IndustriALLs Suzanna Miller, in addition to what they called the Global

Campaign, IndustriALL took an important further step to involve their affiliates. She explained that

they wanted to inform workers belonging to specific industrial sectors/transnational corporations

about the concrete conflicts and difficulties that the Mexican workers were facing every day in thesame TNCs. The idea was to develop and encourage solidarity directly from workers to

workers/unions to unions. They asked unions that they had been working with in Mexico to


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identify key struggles along with several key demands. The ongoing conflicts in Mexico that were

highlighted included Bata/Sandak (FAT); Continental Tires (STGTM); PKC (Los Mineros); Honda

(Stuhm); and SME.

According to Miller: Then we asked our sectoral networks to write to the Company and to the

Government of Mexico to demand respect for the workers rights and resolution of the conflict,

depending on the case. For example, we asked the Rubber/Tire Network to write to Continental inGermany protesting against the exclusion of the SNTGTM from the Sectoral collective agreement

which was in negotiations and to the Mexican government denouncing the arbitrary decision of the

Labour Court to exclude SNTGTM from the agreement. We asked all the Electricity unions in the

IndustriALL electrical unions/energy network to support SMEs demand to reinstate the 16,599

workers, release the 10 political prisoners and write to the Mexican government to denounce the

unfair ruling of the Supreme Court, etc. As Los Mineros defined that their major focus (apart from

Pasta de Conchos) was to reinstate the PKC dismissed workers, a specific campaign was developed

with LabourStart and some 10,000 letters were sent to the PKC CEO in Finland!! And the Auto

sector networks are pressing the major Auto buyers to investigate the violations committed by PKC

a supplier demanding that the contracts be re-discussed. Both Gerdau and Tenaris networks

leafleted in all the unionised plants worldwide about the protection contracts in these companies inMexico! In cases like BATA/SANDAK several video messages from International Executive

Committee Members of IndustriALL from affiliated unions in Australia, Japan, Spain, Bangladesh

and Argentina and from affiliates in the Shoe-Garment sector were posted on our website and

Solidarity letters were sent from workers to workers/unions to unions.

Miller concluded: The idea was to facilitate this relation between workers and unions and we know

that now that the contacts have been made, this relationship continues and can develop to be a

solidarity campaign on a longer term basis.

Solidarity Throughout North America

Meanwhile, the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance (TNSA), composed of unions and worker rights

organizations from Mexico, Canada and the U.S., coordinated its largest effort so far, reporting

actions in Mexico City, several cities in Canada and Quebec and seventeen US cities. US Leap

provided information on its web site for actions that varied from protests to delivering letters to

consular offices and embassies.

Activities were organized in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis,

Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland, Raleigh, Seattle, Tucson, and

Washington, DC., with many organizations assuming responsibility for the various locations.

Canada/Quebec

Canadian unions, led by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), met with the Mexican Embassy in

Ottawa to express grave concerns about Mexicos ongoing and flagrant violations of international

labor rights and standards. The delegation presented Embassy Officials with the ITUCs 2012 report

on Mexican trade union rights violations and a letter to the Mexican President, calling on the

Mexican Government to deliver on the common demands of the international days of action. In

addition, the delegation raised the failure of the Mexican Government to properly investigate the

CLC complaint against Canadian-based Excellon Resources under the OECD corporate

responsibility guidelines.

On February 22, a USW delegation in Toronto met with Consul General Mauricio Toussaint and hisstaff. The USW described their view and that of the Canadian labor movement concerning the

repression in Mexico of democratic trade union rights and the particular attacks on Los Mineros.


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Trade unions in Vancouver, including Los Mineros, USW, COPE 378, CUPE and CEP, held an

action at the Mexican Consulate. A high level trade union delegation met Mexico's Consul General

in Vancouver, Angel Villalobos, and the exiled General Secretary of Los Mineros, Napoleon Gmez

Urrutia, addressed a rally in front of the Consulate.

Gmez Urrutia also participated by teleconference in a dinner conference organized by the CentreInternationational de Solidarit Ouvrire (CISO) in Montreal, Quebec. CISO, a coalition effort of

Quebecois trade unions engaged in international solidarity efforts, reported that Gmez Urrutia,

spoke in French which was greatly appreciated and seen as a sign of respect and solidarity with the

Qubec union movement.

A delegation from CISO, CSN, CSQ, FIQ and FTQ, Quebecois trade unions representing 1,150,000

workers, delivered their grave concerns in a visit to the Consul General of Mexico in Montral, Mr.

Porfirio Martnez Morales.

Mexico

The Mexican days of action started solemnly on the evening of February 18 with a silent march

shutting down traffic from the Monumento de la Revolucin to the Angel de la Independencia in

mourning for the 65 miners killed in the Pasta de Conchos criminal industrial homicide. The 65

symbolic coffins were placed at the monument and the mineworkers from all sections and locals

held an overnight vigil gathering. SME, UNTTYP, Continental Tires Workers, FAT, CAW, CSN,

USW, UE and IndustriALL Global Union participated in solidarity with Los Mineros. Following the

march, various union leaders including IndustriALL Assistant General Secretary Fernando Lopes

addressed the gathering, conveying a message of solidarity from its 50 million members. Los

Mineros maintained an encampment throughout the night.

The following morning, the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance convened a large press conference atthe headquarters of the Asociacin Sindical de Pilotos Aviadores de Mxico (ASPA), with the full

participation of Mexico's democratic trade unions and an impressive international delegation from

TNSA. Representatives from the US, Canada and Mexico spoke as well as from UNI. ITF, and

IndustriALL Global Union.

Capitn Carlos Manuel Daz Chvez Morineau, General Secretary of ASPA and Co-President of the

National Union of Workers (UNT) opened the session, declaring: The Tri-National Solidarity

Alliance (TNSA) continues to make a tremendous effort to make the struggles in our countries

known and has had great success over these years.

International solidarity in this globalized world plays an important role in the defense of the rightsof workers in our countries and in making people aware of their struggles, and this space of labor

coordination is, until now the most useful means we have found to articulate our demands in the

North American region. Faced with the multinational action of capital, multinational action by

workers is necessary!

UEs Director of Organization Bob Kingsley denounced the systematic violation of internationally

recognized labor rights across all industrial sectors and regions of Mexico, the repression and

persecution of trade union leaders and activists, and the continued use of protection contracts that

benefit employers at the workers expense. He declared: It is time for Mexican authorities to act on

the recommendations of the International Labor Organizations Committee on the Freedom of

Association to examine and ultimately end problem of protection contracts.


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He also condemned the recent corporate friendly rewrite of Mexican labor law. Among the worst

of many bad elements in this regressive reform is the elimination of job security guarantees and the

encouragement of more temporary and precarious work. My union has broad experience with the

plethora or problems arising from precarious employment in the US. Poverty wages. Unsafe

conditions. Uncertain futures. The undermining of health and retirement security. This is a wrong

path in both of our countries. It hurts workers. It helps only bosses. It breeds exploitation.

He demanding that the government of Enrique Pena Nieto respect freedom of association, respect

labor rights, and act on the need for decent work for all Mexicans. And we put governments in

both of our countries on notice, he concluded, that we are prepared to fight for these rights and

to keep on fighting until justice is won.

Doug Olthuis, head of the Canadian USW delegation in Mexico reported that during the

International Week of Action in support of independent Mexican unions a delegation of eight trade

union leaders and activists from the United Steelworkers (USW), the Canadian Union of Public

Employees (CUPE), and the Communication Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP)

participated in a fact-finding and solidarity tour to learn first-hand about the impacts of Canadian

mining companies (Excellon Resources and Fortuna Silver) on the rights of communities andworkers in the Mexican states of Durango and Oaxaca.

The delegation met with community representatives, union leaders, and workers who had been

sacked by Excellon Resources for supporting Local 309 of Los Mineros. He reported that the

delegation found the first-hand accounts of workers and community members of rights violations

credible and were angered and appalled by the lack of respect shown to them by these companies.

The concluded by saying that the delegation was also inspired by the courage and solidarity shown

by workers and communities as they continue to fight for their rights.

That afternoon the delegation from the CSN met with the representative from Qubec in Mexico.

They found her to be interested and receptive and, in what they termed a very productive meeting,

they were able to provide her with extensive information both about the independent trade union

movement and the violation of labor rights by the Mexican government and transnational

corporations.

The day concluded with a rousing event at the headquarters of the SME where speakers called for

Repeal of the labor law reform

An end to protection contracts and corporativist control by the Mexican state

Replacement of the Labor Arbitration and Conciliation Boards; and

Restoration of purchasing power and a settlement of continuing labor conflicts.

To view to entire program at the SME, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?

feature=player_embedded&v=8fy5gXrgybQ

On the morning of February 20, thousands of workers from SME gathered before the Supreme

Court to demand a reversal of the order revoking the favorable decision by the appellate court

specializing in labor matters (Segundo Tribunal Colegiado en Materia de Trabajo).

In the afternoon, SME marched to the Secretariat of the Interior where a commission composed of

the unions central committee met with the authorities. A point of agreement presented by the PRD

and supported by the PRI exhorts the executive branch to find a solution to the conflict that has left

16,599 workers without employment.


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On February 21-22 the SME and telephone workers organized delegations which presented the

declaration of the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance in meetings at the embassies of Canada, France,

Japan, Spain, Norway, South Africa, Germany, Brazil, India Argentina and the US, calling on those

governments to send a message to the Mexican government regarding trade union rights. See the

video here. The TNSA declaration was also published in La Jornada. (The English version appears

above).

United States

The AFL-CIO organized a large rally in Washington DC involving a range of unions including

UAW, AFL-CIO, AFT, CWA, NALC and AFGE. The action outside the Mexican Embassy was

filled with boisterous chants calling for an end to protection contracts. A senior trade union

delegation conveyed the international demands of the campaign in a meeting with Embassy staff

while the chanting continued outside. The AFL-CIO also reached out to its affiliates which

organized actions in Houston, Miami, Portland, Seattle and Los Angeles. In LA, a trade union

delegation composed of representatives from the USW, UE and AFL-CIO met the Mexican Consul

General, David Figueroa Ortega, and lodged the campaign's demands. The vivid example of

violations of trade union rights at PKC in Ciudad Acua was detailed by the trade unionists as oneillustrative example of the widespread problems throughout Mexico.

The USW took the lead in Chicago, where a major snowstorm the previous day did not deter some

75 demonstrators who mobilized outside the Mexican Consulate with banners and a symbolic

miner's coffin.

Meanwhile, in Tucson, Arizona, USW Local 937 led a demonstration outside the Mexican

Consulate, together with trade unionists from PALF, IATSE, CWA and IAM. The demonstrators

there observed a moment of silence for the Pasta de Conchos victims. And in Indianapolis USW

District 7 organized a rally in front of the Mexican Consulate.

UE Regional President Peter Knowlton requested a meeting in Boston with the Mexican ConsulCarlos G. Obrador Garrido Cuesta for a labor delegation that also included Russ Davis, Executive

Director MA Jobs with Justice and Sonny Eddleston, MA Steelworkers (USW). They reported that

they presented the General Consul with the Days of Action demands and a letter to the President of

Mexico expressing support for labor rights in Mexico and criticism of the recent labor law reforms

that restricted workers rights and mimic what companies do in the US (and other countries),

especially regarding precarious or contract or temp workers. They also conveyed their support for

justice and dignity for the Los Mineros miners and their families. According to Knowlton, As has

become the custom at these meetings, we discussed the lack of labor and immigrant rights in the US

and the need for their support of these rights here in the US and in Mexico. We cautioned the

General Consul on their governments desire to take the US free trade path of free markets,

privatization, and greed at the expense of social policies and benefits which help all the people, notjust those at the top.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, a UE delegation met with consular staff and reported that they were

welcoming and positive and that they would make a report to the Consul General.

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) spearheaded a solidarity event in New York City that brought

activists from LCLAA, NLG, UAW, Laborers, 1199 SEIU, UFT, UFCW, Painters, TWU, CWA,

Cornell Global Labor Institute, Middle Church, Asociacin Tepayac, and others together in a rally

in front of the Mexican consulate. A delegation met with Cnsul Alonso Martnez and his staff and

delivered a joint letter and a copy of the 2012 Resolution of the International Tribunal on Union

Freedom of Association in Mexico.


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Sonia Ivany, the President of New York City LCLAA, acknowledged that the United States has

many problems with the way it is treating workers, especially workers from Mexico. But she

pointed out that with a global economy and serious talk about comprehensive immigration reform,

what happens to workers in Mexico affects workers here, and what happens to workers in the

United States impacts Mexico.

NLGs Dean Hubbard raised the overall problem of the attacks on independent unions and theirsupporters in Mexico, as well as the specific cases of the cover-up of the deaths of 65 miners in the

Pasta de Conchos disaster, the forced exile of Los Mineros leader Napoleon Gmez Urrutia in

Canada, the continued refusal to reinstate 16,599 members of SME who were fired at gunpoint in

2009, and the specific issues of anti-worker labor law "reform" and protection contracts.

Joel Magallan, the Executive Director of Asociacin Tepeyac, pointed out that the so-called labor

law reform was passed in the waning days of the administration of former President Calderon, and

suggested that the new President, Enrique Pea Nieto, should revisit this ill-advised legislation.

Martnez and the consulate staff agreed to convey the concerns to the President of the Republic and

to the Ambassador in Washington DC, and to respond point by point in writing to the specific issuesraised by the activists.

The NLG also took the lead in organizing an action in Denver, Colorado, where a coalition of local

labor activists from the Denver Area Labor Federation, CWA, Mail Handlers Union, Jobs with

Justice and NLG conducted a picket and then delivered a joint letter during a meeting with the

Mexican Vice-Consul.

Austin tn Cerca collected signatures on a letter that they delivered to the Mexican consulate along

with the Texas Fair Trade Coalition, Central Labor Council, Austin pro Justicia MX and community

members.

In Kansas City, representatives from the Cross-Border Network, USW, CWA and Jobs with Justice

met with the new Mexican Consul, Alicia Kerber, in Kansas City. They delivered a letter and spent

over an hour discussing both the situation in Mexico and up-coming immigration reform in the

United States.

And in New Orleans, members of the National Guestworkers Alliance (NGA) delivered a letter to

the Mexican consul.

The UAW took the lead in Detroit, where they screened a short film about the PKC campaign in

Ciudad Acua at Solidarity House in Detroit. Following the film, a dozen participants a letter fromPresident King to the Mexican Consulate. According to Pete DeMay, We were almost immediately

received and the official who we spoke with was very courteous and seemed to take our concerns

seriously. We have a strong relationship with the consulate and deal with them frequently on

immigration issues.

Ni un paso atras

As we go to press, IndustriALL is still receiving reports from around the world. However, they

estimate that actions took place in around 50 countries, an impressive message of solidarity and

protest. As expressed by Fernando Lopes: it is clear that when workers around the world are

demonstrating that they are supportive of our Mexican comrades that means that we can win

together: hasta la victoria, ni un paso atrs.


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The assessment from Mexican unions was also enthusiastic. Writing on behalf of the Mexican

TNSA unions, Jorge Robles declared: The experience of the Tri-National Solidarity Alliance

(Mexico) is more important than one can imagine. In the Mexican context the difficulty imposed on

the exercise of freedom of association and the restrictions on internal democracy within our unions

by our labor legislation are well known. But TNSA-Mexico has been able to bring together the

principal independent labor organizations within a framework of unity of action and it has becomethe most collegial and committed of the processes we have been developing in Mexico.

We have much left to do: improve our international coordination and initiate, from Mexico,

campaigns in solidarity with the working class of Canada and the United States, as well as to define

appropriate actions in solidarity with struggles here in our own country.

May this Alliance enjoy health and a long life! And the best of it is that this is all up to us!

call of the millions 4 spring 2013: mexico supplement

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